Don’t judge a book by it’s cover

In the egg business there is one misconception I come across again and again and I’d like to address it today. All eggs are not created the same; there are white eggs and brown ones, even blue and green ones… but you can’t determine the quality of an egg by the color of its shell. The common misconception I’m talking about is the idea that brown eggs are somehow better than white eggs. You know the saying “you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” the same goes for eggs.

I believe this is because, in general, farmers who have free-ranging chickens, choose breeds that lay brown eggs and often those eggs are in fact healthier due to the diet and environment of the hens. Whereas, stores tend to sell very cheap white eggs that come from breeds of chicken more suited to commercial farms and practices.

In the past, farmers used chickens for dual purposes; eggs and meat. These dual-purpose breeds are larger and tend to lay brown eggs. Their size causes them to be less efficient feed converters and take up more space, however, they are better suited to the farm environment. Commercial farms usually raise leghorns, a breed which is very small, therefore they take up less room on a commercial farm where space in cages is needed. They are also amazing egg producers for their size. Much like dairy cows, they were bred for one purpose only and are extremely good at their job.

Another issue with the current market is that brown eggs are typically the ones with the more
humane-type labels. Free-range, cage-free, organic and similar labels are not seen often on white eggs. This is not because brown eggs are better for you, it is because of the pre-existing misconceptions, that the market uses to sell 6-8 dollar a dozen brown eggs.

You can actually tell which color eggs a chicken will lay based on their ear lobe color (works about 98 percent of the time). Red or dark-colored ear lobed chickens will lay colored eggs (brown or green) and white or light-colored ear lobed chickens will lay white eggs.

In reality, the only difference among my eggs is the color of the shell, they eat the same food, live on the same land and share just about every aspect of life. I just like a little variety in my hens and my eggs!